Quote:
Originally Posted by dmaul1114
Yeah, this is really bad in the US. There's just a huge wave against intellectualism period lately.
With the bitter partisan divide between liberals and conservatives, and the rise of people like Palin, Limbaugh, Beck, O'Reilly etc. and this Tea Party movement there's a lot of anti-intellectualism going on.
Especially in rural, conservative states. I grew up in one, and I'm still big fan of my state universities sports teams. But man if you mention reading, or I mention I'm a professor etc. on the off topic boards on such sites, you get shouted down as an elitist snob, and out of touch intellectual, have gay slurs thrown at you and everything else.
It's really disconcerting that it's becoming a bad thing to read, to be an intellectual, to do intellectual work in many segments of society in the US. And you're right, it doesn't give much hope for the future if people have these attitudes and pass them onto their children.
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While a very disappointing situation, it isn't a new thing, Bill Hicks has been dead since 1994 and even in one of his routines he had the following joke:
"I was in Nashville, Tennesee last year. After the show, I went to a Waffle House. I'm not proud of it, I was hungry. And I'm eating, I'm alone and I'm reading a book, right? Waitress walks over to me: 'Hey, what you readin' for?' Is that like the weirdest fucking question you've ever heard? Not what am I reading, but what am I reading ... for. 'Well, God damn it, you stumped me. Why do I read? Hmm ... I guess I read for a lot of reasons, and the main one is ... so I don't end up being a fucking waffle waitress.'
But then, this trucker in the next booth gets up, stands over me and goes: 'Well, looks like we got ourselves a reader.' What the fuck's going on here? It's not like I walked into a Klan rally in a Boy George outfit, God damn it. It's a book!"